


Learning Curves

by Sinshine71



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Blood and Torture, Canon Universe, Case Fic, Dark Magic, F/F, Gen, Missing Persons, Slow Burn, Tags Are Hard, Visions, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-01-07 06:45:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18405281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinshine71/pseuds/Sinshine71
Summary: Patience Turner is starting a new school and making friends, while learning how to deal with the gift she inherited from her grandmother and settling into the home and family she's chosen for herself.Jody Mills is juggling a household full of young women, hunting, and her job.Now she's worried about the recent spike in young women gone missing without a trace. Is there a new monster in town?





	1. The New Kid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beatrix_Kiddo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beatrix_Kiddo/gifts).



> This fic is more Wayward Sisters than Supernatural. I wrote it in conjunction with the Fic Facer$ 2018 Auction, for my good friend Beatrix_Kiddo. I hope you enjoy it! <3
> 
> I'm not good at tagging yet, and if you think I've missed something critical, please give me a head's up so I can fix it. Fair warning, there is a second-hand description of torture in the final scene, when a vision is being described. 
> 
> Typos, formatting errors and Canadian spellings - oh, my! (Let me know if you find them!)

“Hey, so you’re the new girl, right? Patience? You’re in my biology class. Oh, my god, we’re going to have to dissect things this year. That’s sooooo grooooosssss! I mean, I don’t want to know what’s inside an eyeball! Or Kermit! That’s just so … YUCKY.”

Patience gave the tiny girl bouncing up and down beside her a weak smile. “Yeah, hi, I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

Blonde curls bounced up and down, and brown eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. The girl’s books toppled everywhere as she stuck out her hand. “Ooops, sorry! I forgot you being new means you don’t know anyone yet. I’m Maddie Wilson. It’s so cool to have someone new here. Did you just move to Sioux Falls?”

Maddie reminded Patience of her neighbour’s new puppy back in Omaha, wiggling with curiosity about everything, and she had to smile. There were worse things than making a new friend on the very first day of school. She bent to help Maddie pick up the books that had fallen, but Maddie’s grip on the rest of her things was shaky, and it seemed like for every item they picked up, Maddie managed to drop one or two other things, the whole time firing questions and observations at Patience so fast that there was almost no need to answer, except … “ohh, you don’t really like me, do you. I’m sorry, I’m an idiot and I talk too much, everyone says that, or they think it.” Suddenly Maddie’s whole frame drooped with dejection.

Patience reached out, rubbing her shoulder. “Don’t think that. I’m just feeling kinda shy ‘cause I don’t know anyone yet. Can I see your book bag?” Maddie handed over a nearly empty shoulder bag that looked like it had been made from a pair of jeans. “This is super cute!” Patience told her, filling it with Maddie’s books and pens, and Maddie’s face lit up at the compliment. She handed the bag and its contents back to Maddie. “I have a lunch block now, do you wanna go sit somewhere and hang out? I can answer your questions if you answer mine?”

Maddie’s smile bloomed again. “Thanks! I’m sorry I’m kind of dorky, but yeah, that’d be awesome!”

Patience grinned back. “Trust me - there’s nothing wrong with being adorkable. Ever. Did you make that bag?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sooo, kiddo, how was your first day?” Jody was putting the finishing touches on dinner, while Patience got started on her homework. Alex was showering after a long shift at the hospital, and Claire was hiding in her room, as usual, so it was just the two of them for the moment. 

“It was okay, I guess. I miss my old friends, but I think it’ll be all right. Maybe. I kind of got adopted by one of the girls in my biology class. Maddie Wilson? She just came up to me and started talking like it was her mission in life to tell me everything about the school, and who all the cute boys are, and who to watch out for. And who all the cute boys are.”

Alex came in just then, hair still damp from her shower, and gave Patience a quick one-armed hug before wrapping Jody up in a bear hug. “Sorry, who are all the cute boys this year?”

Patience chuckled. “I still have no idea. I think most of the football and basketball teams. My source is Maddie Wilson, and I have a sneaking suspicion that a Venn diagram showing the boys in school and the cute boys in school would be nearly a perfect circle, according to her.”

“I remember her - short, curly blonde hair, motor mouth, always dropping things everywhere? Jody, this girl made the cutest book bag out of jeans, and she NEVER puts her things in it. Hilarious kid. So she adopted you, huh?”

“Yeah, it looks like it. I don’t mind. It was weird to be at a new school for senior year. Having someone babbling at me all day made it easier not to feel weird, especially with why I’m here at all. How about you guys? How were your days?”

Jody shrugged, and gestured for Patience to clear her things off the table. “It wasn’t a great day, but it wasn’t boring. We’ve had a few missing-person cases crop up recently. I wanted to talk to the three of you about them after we eat, but they aren’t suitable dinner conversation. It just seems like young women in Sioux Falls are having a lot of bad luck. Oh, for what it’s worth, Patience - the Wilson family goes to my church. Maddie’s a sweet kid. You could do a lot worse for a new friend.” Her face showed some signs of strain, and Patience reached out to her with a hug. After a moment, Jody patted her on the back and let her go, turning to Alex.

“What about you, kiddo? Nice boring day in ER?”

“Mostly. I helped with a girl with a broken arm today, and I seriously think some jackasses need to have their dating licenses revoked. Her boyfriend did it to her.”

“No kidding about the jackass. Okay, you wanna go roust Claire and we’ll eat?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After they’d eaten and dinner was cleared away, the four of them sat back down at the table. Jody had a folder next to her, and Claire had fetched her laptop and notebook from her room. Alex brought out two more notebooks, handing the blank one to Patience. Patience took it, puzzled.

Claire gave her a small smile. “We all keep notebooks on the weird stuff. It helps figure things out, clear the mind, keep track of the monster lore, whatever. Don’t you already keep notes on your visions, now that you’re not fighting them so hard?”

Patience nodded, thinking. “I do, yeah. Should I go get that one too?” Nods from the others sent her back to her room to collect the journal she’d been using since her grandmother’s death. It had been sitting on a shelf with Missouri’s other notebooks on various topics, blank and waiting for Patience. When she had helped her dad clean out his mother’s house, she’d made a point of keeping most of Missouri’s books and tools, against her dad’s objections. He wanted nothing to do with this side of the family heritage, even though it had saved his life. The arguments that had come out of that were what had driven her to move in with Jody for her senior year. 

She loved this notebook, though. When she had picked it up, she’d had a vision immediately, of Missouri purifying it specifically for Patience to use when she was ready. “Child, that time is coming too soon. I hope this notebook will help you adjust. I’m so afraid I won’t be there to help you myself.”

“Patience! You lost?” Claire was yelling down the hallway, and Patience headed back to the front room, vision journal in hand. 

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

Jody waved off the comment. “Don’t worry about it. Okay, so I have two reasons for bringing this case to you guys. The deal is the same: regular police stuff is my job - not yours. Weird stuff we talk about, and we all look at whether it’s mine or ours. I have a gut feeling this belongs in the Probably pile, but I don’t know why.”

Claire reached for the folder, flipping through pages quickly before setting it down in the middle of the table. “It looks like half a dozen missing persons cases, right? Mostly girls about our ages from around the area?”

“Yes, and that’s the second reason I’m telling you. Weird or not, the victims are all girls and young women, and I have a predator on my hands. So whether or not this turns out to be a hunting thing, I want you all to be careful. Keep me and each other posted about schedules, regular check-ins while you’re out of the house, that kind of thing. Do you hear me?”

Patience was quick to nod her assent. It didn’t sound like Jody wanted them on house arrest, just keeping close tabs. Alex nodded too. “My next schedule comes out tomorrow morning. I’ll make sure I put it on the fridge. You should do that with your class schedule too, Patience.” Fair enough, Patience thought, shrugging. She’d always done that when she lived with Dad, anyway. Two drivers, one car, the arguments about who got to drive on the weekends were shorter if there were no surprises.

Claire rolled her eyes impatiently. “You know I can take out monsters on my own, Jody. I can handle some random whackjob with a collection fetish.”

“Not the point, and you know it. You don’t get to play Lone Wolf, and you don’t get to take stupid risks just for the fun of it. You are part of a family, you are loved, and your safety and well-being are important to the rest of us. And besides, if you’re not in the loop, then maybe Alex or Patience get to come to the rescue, and you don’t get to play at all because you missed the whole damn game.” Jody’s voice went from pissed-off Sheriff Mills to cajoling foster mom fast enough that Patience wasn’t the only one at the table with whiplash. Claire’s eyes were suspiciously shiny as she stared down at the table, digging at the wood grain with her fingernail.

Alex reached for the missing-person reports, and handed a couple of pages to Patience, reading one out loud. “So we have Olivia Bell, 22, missing after night classes at the college. Parents thought she might have been seeing someone new, friends thought so too, but no one knew the guy, or anything about him. Reported missing about six weeks ago?”

Patience nodded. “I have a Hope Grey here. 24, part-time at the college, worked nights at that nightclub downtown. No family in town, roommate reported her missing after she missed a couple shifts and a day of classes. Says that the roommate thought a guy from the bar had been too interested, but Hope wasn’t having it. Missing a month, roughly.”

Claire fished a report out from the pile. “I knew this one. Becca James. She’s a year older than me. She’s been missing more like two months now. She’s supposed to be at the university in Lincoln, but I guess not. I’m pretty sure she didn’t have a boyfriend though. She liked girls. Says here she went missing walking home from her girlfriend’s place over the summer break. Fuck, that sucks. I really liked her. Angie, too.”

Alex didn’t miss a beat. “Liked her, liked her, or just that she was kinda cool?”

“Shaddup. You know how it is. We weirdos have to look out for each other. And besides, Becca and Angie Brooks have been together since freshman year, from what I heard.” Patience hid a smirk at Claire’s over-the-top eye roll. 

Jody rapped the table with her knuckles. “Okay, look. My gut is telling me there’s something going on here. Maybe these cases are unrelated, except we don’t get this many missings in such a short time frame around here. And I’m sorry to point out, on the surface there’s not a lot in common. A couple of blondes, a couple brunettes, one black girl, one redhead. All more or less college age, none with known boyfriends. Okay, one with a known girlfriend, but Angie Brooks has been pushing us harder than the parents have, and my gut tells me she’s not involved. None of them habitually took stupid risks. In most cases - Becca aside - vague mentions of a guy, but no description, no one had met him, no names.”

They went over the remaining reports, talking over the details. What was different, what was similar. Olivia Bell, Hope Grey, Becca James. Also Iona McBeath, Beth Robinson, and Toni Hughes. Six young women, twenty to twenty-six years old, apparently vanished without a trace. Patience collected the reports in front of her, hands splayed across all the pages. “Jody, why do you feel this might be an ‘us’ problem? I don’t care how vague you have to be, just - talk about that. Think about what’s bothering you here. Babble if you have to, okay?” Jody looked at her quizzically, but nodded and took a deep breath.

“I don’t know, exactly, but all of them disappeared pretty much with no clues. Disappeared on their way somewhere, never seen again. Almost consistently a week apart. Really really vague references to a guy, if any. No bodies. No hints that they were unhappy enough to run away. My cop senses tell me we’re looking for bodies, not survivors. And I’d like to get something workable before we have any more missing girls.”

Patience’s eyes were closed as she listened to Jody’s words, trying to get behind them. “What about the complaints? Are they related? Out to the west a bit, near the city limits?”

Jody’s eyes had drifted closed, but now they snapped open. “I never said anything about those. We think we have a new bad apple on that side of town, but I had decided it was too soon to drop by with a friendly warning. You think maybe there’s a connection?”

Patience shrugged. “I don’t know why I asked that, actually. But does it hurt to rule it out?” Jody didn’t answer, but she had a calculating look on her face as she thought it over.

Claire spoke up. “I’m going to go talk to Angie, see how she’s doing. And maybe dig into the lore to see what I can find out.” 

“I can help with that. So far, nothing else I can do, I think.” Alex shrugged.

“I’ll take a look through my grandmother’s notes. Maybe she had something we can try to see what’s going on. Alex, do you wanna help there too, maybe?” Patience wasn’t entirely comfortable with following through on her suggestion, but it seemed like she should offer. Jody patted her hand reassuringly as she stood up. 

“Homework first, kiddo. But if you see anything - notes or visions - let us know, okay? I’ll take any lead I can get right now. But girls - this isn’t necessarily an ‘us’ problem yet. No sticking your nose in where you aren’t already involved, Claire. Talking to Angie Brooks is one thing, talking to anyone else gets cleared with me first, got it?” 

Patience didn’t bother hiding her smile at the eye roll Claire gave Jody in response. The girl was a little extra sometimes, and a lot snarky always.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following week, Patience and Maddie were having lunch in the local Dairy Queen. They’d managed to get a table near the window, and Maddie sat in a beam of sunlight that set her golden curls glowing, while she talked a mile a minute, and Patience nodded and ate. There was something about a hot dog wrapped in bacon and cheese that made her happy every time.

“Oh. My. Godddd. Patience, do you see him? He’s gorgeous!” Maddie was nearly hissing her excitement, as she looked past Patience at someone who was hopefully seated all the way across the DQ and out of earshot. Patience was about to turn and look, but Maddie grabbed her arm. “No, don’t look now! He’ll see you! Act cool, okay?” 

Patience rolled her eyes, and retorted, “You act cool. I’m just trying to eat my lunch.” She stole a fry from Maddie’s tray and winked at her new friend. “So how cute is he?”

“No, not cute. This guy is so much more than cute. He’s hot! He’s got a serious bad boy vibe going on, leather coat, kinda long hair. Dark eyes….” Maddie fanned herself, looking like she was about to expire from the excitement of having spotted this paragon of masculinity, and Patience was curious now. She stood up and walked over to the napkin dispenser, casually glancing around the DQ on her way back. Most of the other tables were full of kids from their high school, but one customer stood out. Clearly out of high school, and maybe out of college too, he had dark hair, darker eyes, and the long leather coat Maddie had mentioned. Patience nonchalantly keep her gaze moving over the room. There was something wrong with that guy, and she didn’t want to draw his attention by staring. Unfortunately, Maddie was staring enough for both of them, and had caught his eye. Patience sat down again, her instincts telling her to hustle Maddie out of there. The blonde, however, leaned forward and whispered “Don’t look now, but I think he’s coming over here!” 

“Oh, great!” Patience responded sarcastically. “Play it cool, okay? Or try to. I think that guy could eat you for breakfast.”

“And what a delicious breakfast it would be, too.” A rough voice came from just behind Patience’s shoulder, and a cold grue slithered down her spine. The dark man from the far corner helped himself to an empty chair from the next table, without even glancing at the students sitting there, and swung it around to straddle it between the two girls. Patience’s instincts were screaming now to get away, but the stranger had Maddie pinned with his chilly, deliberately charming smile, and she was lapping up the attention. There was no way Patience was going to leave Maddie alone with this guy.

“Hi, I’m Maddie Wilson, and this is my friend Patience Turner. She’s new to Sioux Falls. We’re seniors at O’Gorman High. I haven’t seen you around, are you new in town too? Are you going to college somewhere?” Maddie’s voice trailed off as Patience pressed a foot down on her toes in warning. 

The dark man held his hand out to Maddie. “Tyler Barzda, good to meet you, Maddie. Short for Madeleine? Madison? Mad Cow?” Maddie giggled, and Patience tried not to wince visibly. Tyler turned his attention to her next, his hand out in greeting. Reluctantly, she took it, giving him a halfhearted shake before letting go. “And your name was Patience, was it? A real virtuous girl, I bet, with a name like that.”

“I try to walk in the light, yes. What brings you to our table in particular, Tyler?”

Tyler’s eyes narrowed at her, before flicking over to Maddie. “I couldn’t resist saying hello to you, Maddie. Your smile really brightens up the room, and I wanted some of that sunshine for myself.” Maddie preened under the attention, and Patience despaired of getting her away from Tyler safely. There was no particular reason for her reaction to him, but if there was one thing she’d learned from the recent turn of events in her life, and from her grandmother’s books, it was that intuition was not to be ignored, ever. A flash of light caught her eye, as sunlight glinted off the ring Tyler wore on his left hand. It had a large, dark red stone in a gold setting, and held the light almost sullenly.

“Hello, Earth to Patience!” Maddie sounded part teasing, part exasperated, and Patience realized she’d been trying to talk to her for a few minutes now. 

“Hi, I’m here, sorry. What’s up?”

“Tyler offered to drive us back to school. What do you think?” Patience looked from Maddie to Tyler, one face hopeful, one mocking.

“No, we’ll walk back, it’s only a couple blocks. I need to walk off that whistle dog, anyway.” Maddie’s face fell, but there was no way Patience was going to let her get in Tyler’s car if she could help it. Her skin crawled when Tyler reached out and grasped Maddie by the chin, turning her face to look at him. 

“What’s your number, sunshine? I’ll call you later, and we can maybe go for coffee after your classes are over.” Maddie scrambled to find a pen and paper in her bag, scribbling her number for him. Patience finished her fries, feeling them congeal into a greasy cold lump in her belly. “All right, then ladies, I'll see you around!” Tyler swung up off his chair and shoved it back at the table he’d liberated it from, striding out of the DQ on a mission. 

Maddie watched him go, and then turned to Patience, excitement and worry on her face. “He’s so hot, and he wanted to talk to me! Why weren’t you nice to him?”

Patience sighed. “He gives me the heebie-jeebies, Maddie. My grandmother always said to trust that kind of thing. I really think you should be careful. If you meet him for coffee, you shouldn’t let him drive you home, okay? And promise to CALL ME when you get home, or I’ll call the Sheriff.” She shouldered her bag, and started ushering Maddie to the door.

Maddie sighed, and rolled her eyes in such an exaggerated fashion Patience wondered if she’d been practising with Claire. “I’ll be careful, I promise. I’ll even text you what coffee shop we go to.”

“Okay, good. I just kind of heard the other day that some girls have been going missing, and I guess it’s got me all nervous.” Maddie glanced at her and nodded.

“Yeah, Mom was talking about that last night. The Sheriff goes to our church, and they’re organizing a prayer circle for the missing girls.” Maddie shrugged. “Who knows how much help that’ll be, though.” 

“Grandma taught me a few things, and if you go missing, I’m calling up your ghost so I can yell at you. Just so you know.” Patience teased her - a little. There actually was such a spell in Missouri’s things, but it was more advanced stuff than Patience was up to yet. Maddie snorted with laughter, and the two girls made their way back to school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Jody, can I talk to you?” Patience had been waiting for Jody to get home, and felt bad pouncing on her the moment she got in, but her nerves were stretching to the breaking point.

“Sure, kiddo. Do I have time to change?” Jody looked at her, shaking her head. “You go ahead, and then I’ll see about changing.”

“Okay, short version is that my new friend Maddie met a guy at lunch that I think is all wrong, his name is Tyler Barzda, and they met for coffee at the fancy donut place on S Western at like, 4 o’clock, and she hasn’t texted me yet to say she’s home, and I’m worried.”

Jody looked at her shrewdly. “Tyler Barzda, you said? Who else is home right now?” 

“Ummm, Claire is. I think Alex is supposed to be home in an hour.”

Jody stuck her head into Claire’s room to tell her that she and Patience were going to run a quick errand, and told Patience to grab her jacket and jump into the cruiser.

“I think we’re just going to go get some donuts for dessert, whaddaya think? I’ll run in and grab them, you don’t have to let on that you told me a thing. But I want to know everything, right now.” Patience described the whole scene to Jody while she drove, including the fact that Tyler hadn’t actually done anything overtly creepy to cause Patience’s reaction. 

“I gotta hand it to you, Patience, you have good instincts. You mentioned the west side complaints last night, so I did some digging. That name came up more than once. I don’t have anything useful to go on yet, but I think he’s our new bad apple. When we get there, you scootch down in your seat and wait for me, and I’ll run in like I said. We’ll decide what next once we see if she’s still there with him or not.” Pulling into the parking lot at the coffee shop, Jody angled the cruiser so that it wouldn’t be immediately obvious Patience was waiting for her. She headed into the shop looking for all the world like there was nothing on her mind but crullers for dessert. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey there! Can I get a mixed dozen, please? And maybe a blueberry fritter for the road?” Jody grinned at the kid behind the counter, and rested an arm on the display case while she did a slow survey of the shop. A couple of old guys in the back corner playing cribbage, a table of high school kids clearly not too worried about the homework spread across their booth, and, oh look - a grossly mismatched couple in a more private booth near the back door. A young blonde sat twirling a curl nervously around her finger, listening to a swarthy guy talking to her in a low voice. He was as rough around the edges as she was fresh and sunny, and Jody’s heart sank to see the stars in her eyes. She drifted over, and just as the guy glanced up at her, she feigned recognition. “Maddie Wilson! How have you been?”

Maddie flushed to her hairline, and stammered, “Sh-sheriff Mills! Hi. Um, I’m good, how are you?”

“Good, good. Who’s your friend?” Jody did not miss the look of pure venom the ‘friend’ aimed at her for the interruption, but chose to ignore it for the moment.

“Oh, um, Tyler, this is Sheriff Mills, she goes to church with my mom and dad. Sheriff, this is, um. Tyler.” For a girl who routinely talked a mile a minute, Maddie was very tongue-tied now.

Jody offered a handshake in greeting. “Hi Tyler, I’m Jody Mills. This is my city. It’s good to meet you.” The handshake Tyler gave her was a little too firm, and she made a point of maintaining eye contact with him even after he let go. 

“A pleasure to meet you, too, Ms. Mills. Heading home for the night?” His grin was oily, and Jody was as certain as she needed to be that this guy was trouble. 

“Sheriff Mills, not ‘Ms.’ Yeah, I figured I’d grab some dessert for my girls. Maddie, I know you know we’ve had some problems recently, and your mom worries a lot. Why don’t you give her a call right now, and have her come pick you up? I’ll wait with you till she gets here, no problem.” Jody paired her Firm Cop voice with a sunny smile that fooled no-one, and was rewarded by a sulky pout as Maddie fumbled for her phone. As she spoke to her mother, Tyler slid out of the booth and stood up, just crowding Jody’s personal space. He was a lean drink of water, but there was no mistaking the strength in his frame, or the hint of intimidation in his face. 

“That’s my cue to get going, then. Sunshine, I enjoyed getting to know you. I’ll catch you later.” As he tapped the table to catch Maddie’s eye, Jody noticed that he wore a distinctive ring on his left index finger, with a fairly large garnet in an antique setting. Very interesting. “Sheriff, I have a feeling I’ll see you around. You have a nice evening, you hear?” He sauntered out the back door of the coffee shop, and Jody followed a few steps, hoping to see what he was driving. Instead, she only saw the flick of his leather coat disappearing around the corner of the building. 

Turning, she grinned at a clearly disgruntled Maddie, and called to the shop clerk, “Chad, what do I owe you?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex was very nearly asleep when she heard whimpering from Patience’s room. She was up and moving before she’d really identified the sound, but when she got into Patience’s room, she wasn’t sure what to do. The younger girl sat on the floor in front of a low altar, with a trio of lit candles, a bowl of salt and a mirror, the police files Jody had brought home spread in front of her on the floor. Patience was swaying slightly, and seemed to be in a trance, murmurs interrupted by the occasional whimper. Alex wanted to shake her out of it but hesitated, uncertain.

“Don’t touch her.” Jody’s voice was low, where she stood in the doorway. The older woman beckoned Alex out to the hallway, where they watched as Patience continued to murmur and sway. “She told me she wanted to try something from her grandmother’s notebook, to see if she could pick anything up. It looks like it might be working.”

“How do you know it’s safe? You didn’t really know her grandmother, did you?” Alex wasn’t opposed to this kind of thing, exactly, but no-one in this house was particularly well-versed in this stuff, and it just seemed like a hell of a risk.

“No, I talked to her a few times, but I only really met her the day before she died. Dean and Sam trusted her with their lives, though. And Patience and I both talked to Sam before she set this up. It’s apparently a fairly basic ritual, if you already have the gift.” Jody rubbed Alex’s shoulder reassuringly, but Alex could tell she was just as worried. Whatever Patience was experiencing looked like it was bad news. 

Just then, Patience started crying, “No, please don’t! No! Stop! Oh, no no no nonononono….” Her voice rose in pitch until she was just keening, grief without words, and Alex and Jody shared a glance and moved toward her. Just as Jody reached for her shoulders to shake her awake, she spoke clearly, grief in every word. “What are you doing this for? What is your purpose?” Jody froze, biting her lip, and Patience spoke again, this time angry. “Turn around, you bastard. I want to see your face. TURN AROUND.” Alex reached out and grabbed Jody’s hand, holding tight. As cold as it was to the touch, Alex knew hers weren’t any warmer.

A rustle behind them drew their attention to the doorway, where a sleep-tousled Claire stood, casually cleaning her fingernails with a deadly looking blade. Jody gestured for quiet, and Claire rolled her eyes. Alex had to swallow a snort at the silent exchange. Claire was never not going to be bitch-tastic, but she would always have your back when it counted. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patience leaned forward, blowing out the candles and turning the mirror face down before facing the rest of them. It was so reassuring to have people there when you needed them, especially with this weird new stuff.

“Did I give you anything useful, or are we stuck with what I could see?” She looked from one face to the rest, and got blank looks and a shrug from Jody. 

“I think we could all use some hot chocolate right about now. Do you need to put that stuff away before you fill us in?” Patience glanced back at her small altar, and back at her new family, suddenly wanting nothing so much as a big hug. Alex leaned over and gave her a big squeeze, followed quickly by Jody and Claire. After a moment, Claire backed off, announcing she was going to start warming the milk for hot chocolate. 

“Okay, so family meeting in a couple minutes?” Jody’s face said clearly this wasn’t negotiable, but no-one seemed to be arguing.

“Yeah, I just need a sec to catch my breath, okay?”

A few minutes later, everyone was at the dining table, notebooks at the ready, steaming mugs of hot chocolate in hand. Jody slipped into her room and came out with a bottle of Kahlua, topping up everyone’s mug. “It’s medicinal, and if you tell anyone, I’ll have to arrest me, so don’t do that!” Giggles rang out, and Jody looked Patience in the eye. “I just want to be sure you’ll sleep tonight. It didn’t sound like a rom-com you were watching.”

Patience took a mouthful from her mug, savouring and maybe procrastinating a little. Claire gave her a look that said ‘get on with it’ just as plain as day, and Patience grinned at her. “Okay, I don’t have many details to go on. It was like I was in the back corner of a room, and couldn’t see much. It was pretty dark, and really warm, like the furnace was going full bore or something. There was a girl in an armchair, but she looked like she was tied to it somehow, and she was not exactly sleeping. More like she was drunk, or drugged, and starting to pass out. And there was a guy there, hurting her. He had a big knife, Claire, longer than the one you hunt with, but the blade was really dark. He kept cutting her arm, and catching the blood in a bowl, and it was like he wanted her to hurt, because he wasn’t cutting deep, just, lots of cuts. I couldn’t see what he looked like, or what he wanted with the blood, but he was being really careful to get it all.” Patience set her mug down with a rattle, hands shaking hard now. Alex reached over and took one, and Jody grabbed the other, squeezing hard. Bolstered, she took a deep breath, and kept talking.

“He cut her throat at the end, and again with the bowl. And then he took the bowl over to a table and did some kind of ritual, but it was too dark, and too far away, and I couldn’t see. I could sort of see her face. She wasn’t one of the ones we already knew about though, this was a different girl. I feel like I didn’t get enough, you know? I didn’t see his face, I don’t know who she was, I know he’s torturing them and taking their blood, but I don’t know why. I feel like all I have now are more questions, and I’m so MAD.”

Jody hauled her up to her feet, and wrapped her up in a bear hug. “You gave us more than you think, kiddo. We know that whatever we’re up against, that was witchcraft, and it’s DEFINITELY an ‘us’ problem. We know for sure now that who or whatever he is, he’s killing them. Maybe not right away, but that’s the point, for him. Can you and Claire work on a sketch of the knife, tomorrow?”

Patience nodded. She knew Jody was right, it was more than they’d had before. “Yeah, I think so. We can do it now, maybe. I might not ever sleep again after watching that.” 

“No, I think you’ll sleep, kiddo,” Jody said, refilling the mug and adding a generous shot of Kahlua before handing it to her. “I’m not going to worry too much about you being on time for school tomorrow, but I think you’ll sleep.”


	2. Trouble Brewing

Jody sat at her desk at the precinct, looking over the latest missing persons report to come in, dread roiling in her stomach. Dani Rochester’s parents had been quietly heartbroken, and it was clear they were mourning her already, even without knowing the cause of her disappearance.

Mr. Rochester had been sitting there just a few minutes ago, an arm around his wife, his face pale as he explained their despair to Jody. “You have to understand, Sheriff, we’re both pretty realistic. Dani had been seeing someone new, and we don’t know a lot about him. She was so independent, we might not have known he broke her arm if your girl hadn’t made her call us for a ride home from the hospital. And you can’t tell us the other girls have all come home. My wife works at the vet clinic with Dr. McBeath, and that woman is torn to shreds over her missing girl. All the vet staff are, Iona worked there on weekends. We can’t tell you for certain when Dani was taken, and I’ll pray for her safe return, but she’s gone and I have an awful feeling something terrible has happened.”

Mrs. Rochester dug into her massive purse. Splotches of scarlet stained her cheekbones but her voice was steady. “I have her diary here, Sheriff. She wouldn’t want me to read it, but you might find something about that no-good hound dog she’s been seeing. Maybe it’ll help bring her home. If he’s not to blame for her disappearance, I’d appreciate you visiting him and putting the fear of God into him regardless, for Dani’s arm. I wish I could give you his name, but she’s been on her own for the past several months. Too independent to live at home with us and save a few dollars towards her future, she is.”

Jody took their statements and kept the diary, Dani’s spare key, and prints of several photos they provided of Dani in her department-store uniform or laughing with friends, along with one sad photo of her with a new cast on her arm, lines of pain and fear marring her pretty face. The cast had been signed by several of Dani’s friends, and a familiar marking caught her eye. Jody reached for a magnifying glass for a better look and saw that, sure enough, Alex had signed it too, along with a sigil for healing and her phone number. A flash of pride in her foster kid warmed Jody momentarily, but Alex was going to take this news hard. After Dani’s parents shuffled out of the station, Jody closed her office door, sat back and let the dread and frustration wash through her. A few tears later, she reached for her phone, pulling up the contact for the Stillwater Sheriff’s office.

“Hello, Sheriff Hanscum speaking.” Donna’s voice, upbeat and melodious as always, flowed down the line at her, and Jody felt steadier already.

“Hello, Sheriff, how’s trouble there in Stillwater?” Her voice sounded a little thin even to herself, and Jody winced slightly.

“Heya, Jodes! Same old, don’cha know. But I don’t really think you called me to find out about my favourite drunk & disorderly, now, didja?” Donna’s tone walked the edge between humour and concern, and Jody could feel her tension ease ever so slightly.

“No, no I did not. That group of missings I told you about the other day? I got a new one. And this girl got her arm set by Alex a couple weeks ago. Telling her is going to hurt. So - I’m being a chicken and calling you for a hug before I go home with this.” Just saying it all out loud had eased the burden, Jody thought.

Donna’s voice in response was all warm hugs and butterscotch. “I get a four-day off-duty run starting Friday noon. You want me to come on around?” The suggestion made the tension in Jody’s shoulders unravel.

“I don’t want to impose, Donna, but I think that would be great. An extra pair of eyes on this, with experience on both sides of the line and all the TLC you can dish out. You know the girls love you as much as I do.”

“You know I love the girls as much as I love you. I’ll be there for dinner Friday - tell Alex to make her potatoes, okay?”

“She will.” Jody laughed. Alex’s potatoes au gratin were so good, she took flack when she tried to make anything else for community events. Claire, the Winchesters, and Donna demanded them at every opportunity, and only Claire ever got told to go make her own. Mind you, those two could fight about any damn thing all day long, even when hunting - though they always, _always_ had each other’s backs.

“Hey, Jodes? You gonna be okay with telling her about her patient?” Jody was silent a beat too long, and Donna continued. “You call me if you need to. Call me anyway, or I’ll pester ya all day tomorrow to find out how that went.” Jody let out a shaky laugh. 

“You are too good for all of us, Donna, and I love you for it. I really do. I gotta let you go, though, my deputies are knocking.”

“Yeah, Margaret’s stuck her head in here a couple times too. Call me later, alligator.” The butterscotch was back in her voice as Donna rang off, and Jody wondered, not for the first time, if the other woman had any idea what that tone did to her. She signed off on some paperwork her deputies brought in, and thought about the change in her connection to Donna over the years. A wary friendship had started at the retreat in Hibbings, when they’d taken out a nest of vampires, and Jody had dressed down Doug the Douche for his treatment of Donna. Which, Donna not being the type of person to let others fight her battles, she’d not entirely appreciated. Since then, Jody had taught Donna the hunting ropes, and their friendship had grown to the point where they could both honestly say this was the most meaningful friendship either of them had. That was saying something, given that Jody had a houseful of girls that the monsters had chewed up and spit out, and Donna had the open, warm kind of personality that everyone gravitated to.

But that husky-sweet tone of voice tended to make Jody’s toes curl, more than a little bit.

~~~~~~~~~

Sitting over the remains of dinner, Jody’s gut squirmed at the thought of the coming conversation. “Okay, women, I need to give you an update on our missing girls, so clear the table. Claire, it’s your turn to wash up, kiddo.” She topped up her glass of wine and shoved the bottle back into the fridge. Grabbing the latest police report from her room, she took a few moments to breathe out her anxiety and came back to the table to find the three girls sitting there watching her, the sink piled high with soapy dishes. Eyeballing the sink, Jody turned to Claire, about to drag out her Mom Voice, when Claire spoke up.

“You only have a second glass when it’s been a really bad day or we have guests. Patience and Alex can help me with the dishes later. What happened?” The other two girls nodded, not even arguing about getting roped into Claire’s chores. Jody’s heart squeezed - this _was_ a real family, regardless of blood.

“Yeah, I had another set of parents in to report their missing girl. Seeing as none of the others have come home yet, or been found, they aren’t holding their breath, and it was hard. Dani Rochester, 23. She moved out of her parents’ house last year, works at the department store up on Shirley. Her parents said she didn’t check in over the weekend, or after work on Monday or Tuesday, and they don’t know for certain when she went missing. My deputies think she was picked up from work on Friday. Alex, her arm was broken recently, and her dad said if you hadn’t insisted they come get her from hospital, they might not have known.”

Alex reached out to the police file and teased out a couple of photos from the pile. Her expression carefully blank, she looked at the girl, nodding. “Yeah, I casted her up, and I signed it, too. Did they know anything about the boyfriend?” She handed the two pictures over to Claire and hunched into her chair, shoulders hunched to her ears, eyes tight with anguish.

“No, just that he was too cool to meet parents, and that he hurt her. She refused to tell them anything, and she’s an adult, so there wasn’t much they could do about it.”

“Yeah, she got real quiet when she remembered I lived here with you, and she didn’t give me anything much to go on, except he’s got dark hair. Rules out the old farts, bald guys, and blonds, I guess.”

Patience was studying the pictures now, all of them spread out on the table in front of her. “This is the girl from my vision. I think. Like I said, I was kind of stuck in a corner, so I didn’t have a great view. But I really think it’s her.” Her voice was low and shaky. Claire reached out and rubbed her shoulder gently, before flicking her with a teasing finger. Patience gave her a small smile, glancing over at Alex.

“Hey, Rocky, you talk to the girlfriend yet? What was her name?” Alex was still huddled in on herself, but if she was calling Claire nicknames, she was managing, Jody figured.

“Angie. Angie Brooks. Yeah, we went for coffee yesterday. It was good, actually. She only talked to me at first because I kinda dropped your name, Jody. I let her think you figured if it was just us girls talking, she might remember something else. Which, you know, fair because she did. She said there was a guy at the university near the end of term who had been hassling Becca, and he got kind of nasty when she told him she was gay. Angie had wanted to report him to campus police, but she says she never saw him. Becca told her he came off like the Breakfast Club jerk.”

Alex snorted and rolled her eyes. “Gotta love old movies. Which one? Jock, dweeb or outcast?”

Claire grinned. “I know, right? Angie didn’t know, but apparently Becca had a real hate-on for the Judd Nelson character, and Angie thinks it might be him. No good for a solid ID, but if we see Judd Nelson stompin’ around from the 80s, we can ask him some questions!” Jody smothered a smile - The Breakfast Club wasn’t _that_ old a movie, was it?

“Did you talk to her about Kaia?” Alex - good sister that she was - never flinched from asking the hard questions. Claire’s eyes rolled dramatically, and Jody wondered, for perhaps the millionth time, how they never seemed to get stuck like that.

“Yeah, nosy, we talked about dead girlfriends, and how to get over it. Her situation’s different, because they’d been dating since freshman year, and they were saving up for an apartment. But she looked like I had just given her a life jacket, when I told her about Kaia. Like it might help, to know another girl whose girlfriend died stupidly.”

“Did it? Help?” Patience this time, voice barely audible.

“I think? Maybe? We’re going for coffee again next week. And no, Alex, I’m not letting you do my makeup. Being nice to someone because I know what she’s going through isn’t dating.”

Jody cut across the banter before it got heated again. “Okay, so we don’t have a lot of new leads to work with right now. I’ll check on Judd Nelson’s whereabouts for the summer, and I’ll keep my people working the disappearances. Claire, did you ever get that sketch over to Sam?”

“You mean the blade Patience saw? Yeah, he thinks it’s a ritual knife, an _athame?_ Ties into witchcraft again, but he said the sketch wasn’t very detailed. Sorry I failed art class.” Claire was looking mildly affronted that her sketch had been disparaged. Jody grinned - Claire’s sketches were as greatly appreciated in their weird little circle as Alex’s potatoes.

“Oh! That reminds me - I talked to Donna today, and she’s got a four-day run coming up, so she’ll be here for dinner on Friday. Alex, you’ll never guess what she wants you to make!”

Cheers erupted all around the table at that news. The girls loved Donna _almost_ as much as Jody did, although she hoped they hadn’t figured that “almost” out yet. As Alex grabbed the phone to call Donna, Claire got up to start washing dishes. She chucked the dish towel at Patience, who grinned.

“Nothing to dry yet, girl. Get on that!” Patience leaned toward Jody, and said quietly, “You know who gives off a Judd Nelson/Breakfast Club vibe? That Tyler guy that’s hanging around Maddie.”

Jody nodded. “I was just thinking that.”

~~~~~~~~~

Maddie sat in the back booth at the coffee shop, twisting a curl around her finger nervously. Her mama was going to be picking her up soon, and she was about to be busted in a big fat lie. Mama thought she was having coffee with Patience. If Mama saw her with Tyler instead, then Boy Howdie was there gonna be some hell to pay.

“Sunshine, you look like there’s a little more on your mind than your hair. Talk to me.” Tyler’s voice was rough like sandpaper, and it gave Maddie shivers to hear it. Good shivers. The kind you read about in books. She smiled at him, just the way she knew he liked.

“I don’t want to go home yet, is all. Mama’s going to come get me in a few minutes, and I told her I was meeting Patience. Who she’s gonna wanna drive home, and who isn’t here.”

“Yeah, toots, I don’t do parents, so I won’t be either. How long you got?”

Maddie checked her phone. “Ten minutes.”

“Well then, come with me for a sec.” He slid out of the booth and grabbed her hand, tugging her along behind him as he slipped out the back door. A good-sized rock was toed into the door-frame, wedging it open slightly. “There, you can get back in again after I go,” he muttered, leaning back against the wall, legs spraddled so he was only a little taller than Maddie now. He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. Maddie thrilled at the contact. Their first coffee date, Sheriff Mills had cut short. Their second, they’d held hands in the booth, but just when Maddie was starting to hope things would get cozier, Tyler’s phone had rung and he’d had to leave. Now though, their third date, and Maddie was getting somewhere. Of course, her mama would get here soon, but…

All thought left her head when Tyler started kissing her. Warm lips on hers, strong arms holding her tight, Maddie’s heart started racing faster than even she could talk. Not that she wanted to talk right now, of course. After a few minutes - and the timer on his phone - Tyler lifted his head, and looked at her, smirking. “Sunshine, you warm me up. But you better get your things and head out the front door or your mama’ll come looking for you. I’ll text you later, okay?”

She nodded at him, feeling a little dazed and a lot giddy. “Okay.” She rolled up and kissed him again, feeling bold. He gave her a quick grin, chucked her chin, and disappeared around the corner. Breathless, Maddie slipped back through the door and started gathering up her things, just as her mama pulled into the front lot.

“Hiya, Mama,” she dropped her bag in the back seat before strapping into the passenger seat next to her mother.

“Where’s Patience? I’ll drive her home too.” Melanie Wilson tooted the horn, hoping the dark-haired girl would come out of the coffee shop already.

“Oh, ummm, Patience left already. Her foster sister picked her up, but I figured I’d wait for you.” Maddie hoped her tone was relaxed enough, and examined her nails so she wouldn’t give it all away with her face. Mama always could tell by her face if Maddie lied.

“MMmmmhhhmmm. Maddie, I was born at night, but not _last_ night. I’ll bet you a month of grounding Patience never came out here for coffee at all, did she?”

“What?!? Yes, Mama. YES! Patience just left with that blonde sister of hers.” Maddie was horrified. Grounded for a month? She’d never survive that, she’d die of boredom and total FOMO first.

“You know, I don’t think so, somehow. I think you’ve been texting someone I don’t know, and trying to keep secrets, and I think it’s a bad time to be trying that kind of thing on when girls all over town are going missing.” Melanie tapped the screen on her phone a time or two, and Maddie could hear it ringing on the other end.

“Hi, Jody, Melanie Wilson here. I don’t want to bother you at home too much, but is Patience home at all? …. No, if she’s in the middle of her homework I don’t want to interrupt. Did she just get in? …. No, Maddie’s safe, I have her here. And for the record, she’ll be grounded for the next month, so if you see her at your place before time’s up, bring her on home, will you? …. Okay, thank you Jody, I’m sorry for the bother.”

“Mama! A whole month! Just because I went to coffee without Patience. That’s totally not fair.”

“Maddie, yes, a whole month, because you lied, and you’re trying to sneak around behind my back. I don’t exactly know what’s going on with you, but we now have four whole weeks and change to get to the bottom of it all.”

“I’m old enough to date, you know.”

“Yes, you are. And old enough to be responsible and respectful enough to bring your young man around the house to meet Daddy and me. Also, old enough to pay the consequences for not being that - responsible and respectful. Is that what this is? You’re seeing someone you don’t think we’ll like?”

Maddie knew, she just knew, that with how mad Mama could get she’d blow a gasket if she set eyes on Tyler, not to mention Tyler already said he didn’t ever meet girls’ parents. Seeing as she was already grounded for a month, she figured her best defense now was silence.

It was a very quiet ride home.

~~~~~~~~~

Alex heard the familiar growl of Donna’s pickup approaching the house, and was out of her chair and at the front door before the engine cut out. Donna could dish out a bear hug that realigned your spine and fixed all your woes all at once and she wanted one, stat. Claire and Patience were right behind her, and the three of them were shrieking with laughter and tripping each other up as they rushed the big black pickup. Donna’s face was alight with joy as she bounced out of the cab and got herself an armful of girls.

“Heya, ladies, how’s everyone doing? Ooof, I love hellos like this - nothing makes you feel loved like getting hug-mugged by three people at once!” Donna sounded every bit as happy to see them as they were to see her, and Alex couldn’t help but grin. “Where’s Jodes?”

“I’m right here! I’m so glad you came - I just didn’t want to get steamrollered in the crush there.” Jody laughed, sounding way more at ease than she had in the past few weeks, and Alex realized again just how hard she was taking the missing persons cases that were racking up. Donna seemed to know it too - the hug Jody got was longer and tighter than usual. A wistful expression flickered across Donna’s face as she let Jody go, and Alex wondered if she’d actually seen it. Donna went another round of hugs with everyone, and this one was the spine-crushing bear hug Alex had hoped for.

“Lord, woman - all your bones cracked there - just how hard have you been working lately?” That was Donna’s trademark tone - half teasing, half genuine concern, all warmth. Alex rolled her eyes and laughed.

“Why go pay for a chiropractor’s visit when I know you’re coming? Claire stole your bag already, come on in.”

They got Donna settled, catching up on each other’s news while they pulled the last bits of dinner together, Donna and Jody sitting at the table drinking wine. Patience hung back slightly, shy around Donna still, and Alex and Claire shared a look, grinning.

“So, Donna, did Patience tell you she got adopted already? First day at school, and her class’s version of you found her and glommed on.” Patience laughed, and Alex saw her set her shoulders and face Donna.

“Maddie wishes she was you. She’s got a huge heart, and blonde curly hair, and is super enthusiastic about all the boys, but I just bet she’s never fired a gun in her life, and wouldn’t know what to do with a knife outside the kitchen. I bet it hasn’t even really occurred to her yet that a girl can be all girl, and still be a serious bad-ass.”

“Aww honey, you’re so sweet. You know, though, my dad took me hunting and taught me how to dress game long before I ever got my first bra. I was a total tomboy. I only got the hang of being girly after my divorce, and - I’ll have you know - after Jodes taught me how to kill a vampire. I still have to call Alex for help with the girly stuff sometimes. And for the record, some men are just too fine to ignore, but boys are overrated, and your Maddie’s gonna have to learn that one the hard way.”

Jody reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind Donna’s ear. “You’re a beautiful bad-ass, and I wouldn’t want you to be any other way.” The grin that lit up Donna’s face was so bright it hurt Alex’s heart to see it. Claire, however, had other priorities.

“All right, you bad-ass girly people, I’ve been waiting for these potatoes all day. Let’s eat!”

~~~~~~~~~

After dinner had been cleared away, and everyone was settled in the living room with drinks, a huge bowl of popcorn and their case notes, they started bringing Donna up to speed. Donna had heard the basics from Jody over the phone already and a few of the details here and there as well. When your absolute best friend does pretty much the exact same job as you, it’s hard not to talk shop. This wasn’t the usual decompressing, “let it go” type chat, though. This was downloading the whole kit and caboodle for the express purpose of finding seven girls (hopefully alive, but not likely), and a monster of a male witch. Wizard? Warlock? Asshole? Asshole. Monster asshole, in fact.

“So, you have seven girls you know of now, going missing at more or less one a week, mostly the same ages as Alex and Claire here. You have a mystery boyfriend for a few of them, who may or may not be Judd Nelson’s evil twin. Based on Patience’ vision, you have a witch with a ritual blade who is collecting blood. You have a new guy in town that the Sheriff’s not a fan of and who Patience is trying to keep her new bestie from dating. You girls have been busy, haven’tcha?”

Alex spoke up, mischief in her pretty grey eyes: “You forgot that Claire has a new friend too!”

“ _Shut. Up!!_ Angie’s going through a bad time right now, just like I did in the spring. At least we _know_ what happened to Kaia.” If looks could kill, Claire might have taken the whole room out. Donna leaned in and wrapped an arm around her in comfort.

“You know what she’s going through, a bit, and it’s good you’re talking to her about it. I hope she does become a good friend once she’s healed some. There’s no such thing as too many good friends. And honey, if it changes down the road, let yourself have that. Don’t hold your breath waiting if she rings your bells but if it changes and you’re both ready, let it happen, easy and slow.” Donna could feel the anger drain out of the younger woman, and bewilderment flooding into place.

“What makes you think _I’m_ ready? It hasn’t really been that long. I still feel Kaia right here, a lot.”

“I don’t actually. But I don’t get to decide that, and neither does Jodes, or Alex, or Patience. Just you. You keep working on healing your heart, and you keep busy around the outside of that so you have a place to burn off the ugly feelings. Take care of your family, and the friends you have, new and old, and one day you will be ready. The right woman will be there soon enough. I believe that to be true, honey. The doors to your heart can’t be opened by anyone else but you, but that doesn’t mean others can’t come a-knockin’.” Donna stood and drew Claire into a big old bear hug. Finding the right words with this one - prickly as a porcupine on a good day - was always a crap shoot, but she was a good kid, and loved her hugs as much as the next one. Settling back into her seat, Donna noticed that Alex was watching her closely, face carefully blank. It was a mistake to forget that Alex had lived as the blood pet to a nest of predators for much of her childhood. Donna knew that Alex teased her new family hard, fought with Claire on principle, and was generally fun to be around, but her ability to read people was uncanny and occasionally intimidating, and it was hard not to wonder what was going on behind those grey eyes now.

Shaking herself out of that train of thought, Donna nudged Jody with her shoulder. “You said the parents left you with a diary for the latest vic? Did it have anything useful in it?”

Jody burrowed into the corner of the couch, wine glass in hand, and pulled Donna in for a snuggle. Resting her head on Jody’s shoulder, tantalizingly close to her curves, Donna forgot her own question in favour of hanging onto her cool. This was normal, now, snuggling up with her bestie while the whole family hung out. Maybe brainstorming how to find a monster asshole wasn’t so normal, but this part was, so she could just darn well act like it.

“… home with me in case Patience can get anything more out of it. I’ll give it to you tomorrow, but we have to be careful with the whole chain-of-custody thing, okay, kiddo?”

Patience nodded, cautiously, her shoulders drawing up tight. “I can check Missouri’s notebooks and see if she has some advice for me. I just - I hope I don’t have to see another vision as bad as the last one.”

Donna looked at the teenager closely. She didn’t know Patience quite as well as the others. She was naturally reserved, and had only been able to visit briefly until she’d moved in with Jody in August, less than two months ago. It was obvious to Donna that she was struggling with her gift, and her family’s history with it. That history was what had led her here - her father’s incredible distrust of what appeared to be a genetic trait had led to his cutting his mother out of his life when Patience was small, and his anger about Patience’s evident abilities had pushed her out as well. The fact that thus far, very few of her visions had proved comforting in the least - well, that clearly wasn’t helping much. Donna was just about to wriggle out of her spot on the couch to go hug the girl, when Claire and Alex converged on her instead. Jody snugged her arm tighter around Donna’s neck, murmuring into her ear. “Our girls are fucking awesome. Watch.”

Fighting the shiver that Jody’s breath over a pulse point caused, Donna watched as Alex wrapped Patience up in a hug, and Claire perched on the back of the couch the girls were on, gripping the younger girl’s shoulders. Alex snuggled right into Patience, moving her hair clear of Claire’s shoulder rub. In order to stay in her seat, Patience had to hug Alex back, and Donna noted with pride the delighted surprise on Patience’ face as she did. Whatever sisterhood Claire and Alex maintained, they were holding space for Patience, because this was a family.

“ _Our_ girls, huh? I’ll drink to that. I fucking love this family!”

~~~~~~~~~

Afternoons in South Dakota in early October could be nice - when the sun was out, anyhow. It was a cool, sunny afternoon while Alex, her sisters and Donna tidied up Jody’s back yard for the winter. Jody hadn’t had time to do it, what with the additional hours she was putting in at the station and having a house full of girls to mother, so when she came back from her shift later today they were going to be able to surprise her with one less project to worry about. Patience had suggested it, saying this was the weekend she and her dad usually put their garden to bed for the winter. Alex grinned over at her now, as she stood in the middle of the lawn, surveying their work.

“I think we’re done. Just putting the tools away and washing up. Do you think Jody will like it?” Alex laughed, Claire grinned, and Donna grabbed Patience, swinging her around in an enthusiastic hug.

“You betcha she will! I love how you’re fitting in around here, kiddo. How’s things at school, new kid and all?”

Patience smiled, and Alex could see she was really warming up to Donna, which was good - they hadn’t had much chance to hang out together since Kaia died, and there had been so much heartache involved in that they had remained at arms length. Donna lived a solid four-hours drive away and had a pretty large territory to cover so visits didn’t happen as often as any of them would like.

“It’s good. Maddie’s the biggest sweetheart, but she’s grounded for another three weeks, so I can’t hang out with her as much as before. The others are taking their time deciding, but that’s okay. It’s only October, for one, and it’s senior year, for two. New kid, busy year, and I live with the county sheriff. I have a feeling I don’t get invited to the best parties, just because Jody’s most likely to be the one driving me there.”

Donna laughed, making Claire and Alex grin at each other. “I wish I’d thought of that! It’d be way easier to keep up with the high school shenanigans in my area if I had kids in every school! So, no boyfriend yet? Or girlfriend?”

Patience grinned at that. “No, I’ll wait and see. Maddie’s boy-crazy enough for both of us. But you - you’re not married, no kids. Are you seeing anyone we should know about?”

Donna flashed an unexpectedly wary look around the group before shrugging the question off. “Nah, not so much. After Doug decided that hunting wasn’t something he could handle, I’ve kinda backed off men for a bit. I got plenty to keep me busy anyhoo, so I’m not gonna sweat it. And besides - who needs a man, right? They just take up all the time I wanna spend with you awesome ladies. Jody’ll be home soon, you want me to start dinner?” The blonde bombshell headed for the house, effectively ending that conversation.

Claire turned to look at Patience and Alex, her eyebrows high with astonishment. “Umm, Patience, I think you hit a nerve there.”

Patience nodded. “Yeah, it felt like that, didn’t it? Was Doug a jerk?”

Claire shrugged, elaborately casual. “I don’t think it feels good to be dumped ‘cause somebody doesn’t want anything to do with your hobby, but this hobby is scary as fuck to people. The first Doug was a huge jerk, but this guy was nice enough. Just chicken.” Claire looked Patience right in the eyes. “You get that we’re always going to have to be careful about that, right? Our family gets it, because we’re all in the same boat. But civilians aren’t gonna want anything to do with hunting until they get a personal stake in the game, and Donna just learned that the hard way.”

Alex caught Claire’s eyes, and saw that she was pushing down the old hurts that had brought her here. Patience must have seen it too. “So, we look out for each other, and we listen. Even to the things that haven’t been said yet. We should go in though - Sam and Jack are going to be calling soon.”

“Wait - what? How’d’you know that?” Alex could hear her voice pitch up slightly, but she hadn’t been aware Patience could foresee small things like this.

“Um, I don’t know exactly, I just - I know they’re going to be calling. Soon.”

Claire narrowed her eyes at Patience and headed for the back door. “How long have you been able to call little things like this? Why didn’t you tell us?” Inside, they could hear the phone start to ring, and Claire sprinted for it.

Patience turned to Alex, worried. “I haven’t done that before. I honestly don’t know how I know, I just do. I’m not trying to hold out, I promise.” Alex gave her a one-armed hug, moving them both toward the house.

“It’s okay. Handy, though, don’t you think?”

Patience was spared answering right away by Claire yelling through the screen door. “Alex - it’s for you! Jack wants your potato recipe!”

~~~~~~~~~

Alex sat back from the table, eyeing the remains of Donna’s casserole dinner. Jody and Donna were taking turns quizzing Patience on the new development of her gift, while Claire was reading Jody’s notes on the journal the Rochesters had provided. What was interesting about this conversation, beyond the obvious fascination with Patience’s gift and how they could work with it, was the way Donna and Jody were interacting. On the one hand, they were tag-teaming Patience, but on the other, Donna and Jody were trading looks back and forth in a way that felt like its own communication. Feeling eyes on her, Alex glanced over at Claire, who flicked her eyes at the two older women and quirked an eyebrow. A silent “are you seeing what I’m seeing?” that had Alex smothering a smirk.

Her phone chimed with an incoming text, from Dean. _:Thanks for giving Jack your recipe. Don’t worry, you’re still the au gratin queen…:_

~~~~~~~~~

Monday afternoon, Jody slipped the Rochester journal back into the evidence files. Patience hadn’t gotten anything particularly ground-breaking from it, beyond confirmation that Tyler Barzda was the mystery man in Dani’s life. She hadn’t mentioned his name, only his initials, but in the entry describing the fight that had resulted in her broken arm, she had put enough emotion into the writing that Patience had been able to see past her words. Jody was both relieved and frustrated. As Donna had pointed out, knowing was helpful - they could focus their efforts better, but it was a damned good thing this was looking increasingly like a hunting issue rather than a straight-up police matter. Hunters could take Patience’s visions as proof, but sheriffs and prosecutors never could - or would.

A knock came at her door, followed by one of the younger deputies. “Ma’am, uh, Sir, A report just came in from Iowa I think you might want to look at. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think it might be connected to our missing persons.”

“All right, Deputy, have a seat, and lay it out for me. How does a report from Iowa connect to missings from Sioux Falls?” Devlin was a good kid, and Jody had hopes for him. He was a bit younger than most of her department but he showed the fair-minded attitude and easy-going cool that she associated with her best officers. He also tended to approach situations with a puzzle-solving mentality that Jody suspected would make him a gifted investigator one day.

Devlin sat down, and took a deep breath. She could see him considering his words, and waited him out. “Well, Sir, it might be nothing. Our missing persons are all pretty much the ‘good girl’ stereotype, even if we’re not supposed to pigeon-hole people like that. The one that’s gone missing from Cherokee had a tougher reputation, from the looks of it, but she’s the same basic age, and from this picture, she looks like she might clean up real nice.” Devlin flushed, hearing his own words, and stammered, “Uh, well, I mean she might have seemed like a good girl in the wrong place to someone, you know?”

“Where did she go missing from, Devlin?” Jody kept her voice even, letting him sweat out his logic a bit.

“Sandy Pritchard worked at the biker bar right off the highway near the airport. Apparently rented a room out back, too, which is how they noticed she’d been gone too long. Missed a couple shifts, the manager went into her room, and it looked like there’s been a bit of a tussle there. Manager said she kept her room neat as a pin, so it made her worry. My cousin Dave’s with the Cherokee County department, he said that place has a few red flags, so the manager calling this in was interesting.”

Jody held her hand out for the file, and saw that it was a remarkably complete report, for a cocktail waitress missing from a problematic establishment in another state. “That’s not the usual inter-state BOLO, Devlin. When did this come in?”

Devlin met her eyes, a determined look on his face. “That report was waiting for me this morning, Sir, because Dave called me last night at home. I know you talk shop with Sheriff Hanscum out of Stillwater when you need to work at leaving the job at the office. Dave and I talk shop when it gets stuck in our craws too. Dave sent me their whole file, just in case. Something about this one doesn’t sit right with him, because he thinks there’s a regional pattern we’re not seeing because we’re all just working our beats. His boss thinks he’s blowing it up for fun. I think we have a predator here, and I think Cherokee is close enough to go hunting if that’s what our boy is doing. There’s a lot of places that are an easy drive from here that might have files we should know about. And I _know_ our seven girls bother you enough to take evidence home and sleep on it. Sir.”

Jody pinned the younger deputy to his seat with her glare. It took some stones to tell your Sheriff you knew she’d been taking evidence home. Devlin returned the look in his calm way, waiting for her response, and her respect for him edged up a notch.

“Alrighty then. You’re at your desk for the rest of the day. I want you to follow through on your theory, and drum up any similar reports you think tie in. Come see me at the end of the day, and we’ll talk about what you find. If it’s nothing, you’re providing the break-room donuts for the rest of the week. Yeah?”

“Fair enough. Thank you Sir.”

Jody’s heart sank with every hour that passed after that. Devlin was in no danger at all of donut duty this week. Sandy Pritchard was one of five girls from nearby counties who had gone missing, all on dates that filled in the gaps in the Sioux Falls timeline, and frankly, Jody’s gut tended to agree with Devlin. The problem was, if these new girls _were_ part of the pattern, how would Jody be able to keep her girls’ extracurricular hunting off the radar?


End file.
